Pink Bathtub Makeover

If you’ve been following along on our bathroom, you’ve seen what we’ve done in part 1 and part 2. Today we are talking about my pink bathtub and tile shower makeover. This was a project with a quick turnaround THANKFULLY! Because I need to point out that we only have ONE working shower or tub in this house, we could not have a project that lasted days or weeks.

Want a sneak peek? (I always do!)

First to set the stage for what how fabulous it is today, I have to tell you what we had done up to this point.

One of the first things I did upon buying the house was rip out the built in shower doors, (I am so strange…) It only took about an hour, but I couldn’t stand having them. Then, because I wasn’t planning on finishing the bathroom right away, I got to stare at an unfinished shower for a year…

About 8 months, after I removed the doors, there was still this HUMONGOUS (pointless) header. It was above the shower and it made you feel so enclosed in some strange cave whenever you used it. Not to mention, it was also really bad for air flow. So, when we installed our new bathroom fan, we decided to rip out the header too. That way the moist air from showers and baths could actually leave the room. So for another four months we’ve been looking at this. (But moving out of the crazy cave shower felt SO good!)

With the header removed and the addition of a pocket door (we saved so much space), we had some pretty damaged, old, crumbling plaster. We could have tried repairing it, but the integrity of the plaster was mostly destroyed and no matter how hard we worked at fixing it, we would have continually had the same problems. Replacing it was the best bet, and at the same time we repaired the header that we had removed. Then, painted all the walls in the bathroom a nice coat of fresh bright white paint.

Even after all the work to get the space looking clean and not be so scary, we still had a few big problems (pictured below)

First, did I mention we have a PINK bathtub? Yes, it is pink… very pink.

The shower tile edge (where the door had been) was still not finished.

Many of the tiles had hairline cracks that you can see when they are wet, the finish had been chipped with all the construction and they were pretty hammered!

The grout was so dried out it was sort of cracking out in places.

(While I LOVE the style of the tile) we have already had water dripping into the basement from open cracks.

The shower head was REALLY low, like below my head, so we installed an extender, which worked but is just not as pretty

The bath stopper thing-a-ma-jig was missing, and obviously no longer worked.

The actual finish on the tub around the drain was in bad shape

The spigot was crooked and didn’t work very well (The first few months we couldn’t even turn off the hot water. To stop it we had to turn off the water to the whole house!)

Basically, we just really needed a new solution, and a fast one (because as a reminder this is our only working bath for a family of 4)

Enter Bath Fitter.

They can come in, and cover the old cast iron tubs and shower surround without having to remove it! As a bonus, they are able to work all the plumbing issues out, including raising the shower head, adding a nice tub stopper, and even updating the old school drum style p-trap. Rick, of our local SLC Bath Fitter office came out to take all the measurements and walk us through the process, making sure to answer all of our questions.

We learned a lot as he explained what they do and how much they could do. I was really excited about the possibilities.

Bath Fitter uses acrylic to create a really nice, thick liner that fit perfectly into your tub. How does it fit perfectly? They have literally a thousand or so different tub forms of manufactured tubs from the last 30+ years in their headquarters.

They had great real-life samples to look at and feel as they explained how the process works. It helped me feel really confident with my choices. And –confession– I want one of these mini tub forms for a Barbie dream house… I wish I got to keep it!

You make all your choices while they guide you through options, and BAM! The consultation is done. Then, Bath Fitter orders all your custom pieces and you just have to wait a few weeks (depending on the schedule) while they make the acrylic form to fit your tub perfectly.

On the day of the install Kitty was feeling nostalgic about the pink bathtub… and gave it one last kitty love… then promptly ran and hid when the installer came in.

All the magical rainbows and starbursts where here (as evident in the photo below) when the installer arrived!

The installer confirmed all of my selections and measurements upon arrival. He verified the height of the shower head (I wanted it taller than the norm, but that was not a problem), and then discussed the amount of overlap that I wanted the tile portion to have over the edge of the tub.

Before he got to work, he laid out a floor protector (I think it should have been red, like a little red carpet…) I love that they protected my new flooring, with a really thick mat, which Justin really wants for when we have projects… it was really cool.

He had a few things to do to get started, like cleaning up some plumbing, and cutting back a little of the tile, since it had a strange little lip at the bottom next to the tub.

We had an old barrel trap instead of a nice new p-trap, so he updated that to make sure that all the connections from the new tub were nice and tight.

He raised the shower head and had to add a new place for the control valve (our old one was an all-in-one), then he raised the spigot a little bit. I just have to say, he was REALLY fast doing it all. I was impressed by how quickly he just got to work.

The biggest challenge in our house was leveling the walls. It took a bit of time, but he did a great job. Once the walls were level, he installed the wall liners. I love the subway tile look we picked out!!

And the “piece de resistance”? The new, beautiful, white TUB! YAY! No more pink bathtub!! Doesn’t it look amazing?!

I am really happy with the fixtures that I chose! I love that it has a built-in hand shower that I can lower for my little kiddos when they shower.

Isn’t it looking SO amazing!?!Done in a DAY! AMAZING! You have to check out the time lapse! It is so amazing!

And, just a reminder about what it looked like before! No more pink bathtub, I am SO pleased! To book your own Bath Fitter consultation, click here or call (866) 364-2746.

*I’d like to thank Bath Fitter for partnering with me on this post. All opinions are my own. I truly I LOVE my new shower and tub, SO MUCH!

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About Cassity

Cassity started Remodelaholic with her husband, Justin, to share their love for knocking out walls together. She is an interior designer, wife, and mother of two. She and Justin have remodeled three homes from top to bottom and are working on their fourth. Making a house a home is her favorite hobby.

Comments

It looks amazing! Can I ask why you picked Bath Fitter? Was it because it is done in one day, etc?We have two bathrooms to remodel. I have considered getting a consultation from our local Bath Fitter but my husband is more of a diy person. I am hoping when I show him this is will convince him to give Bath Fitter a shot!!

Rachel, Having the bathroom done in one day was amazing. Currently this is our only functioning bathroom and it was very necessary not to stall the project any longer. We are very much DIYers and can fix most anything, but when it comes to water and plumbing I don’t like to mess around. There are certain things that is worth investing in to have it done right by a professional. We love the final product and were glad that it was done right and will last a very long time. Thanks for the comment. Justin

Thanks for sharing this. I think so many people are nervous about the whole “Bath Refit” thing. I’m glad it’s getting some positive press. I’m familiar with the process, but admit I don’t have much first hand experience with it. I’m very interested in how it holds up. Will you be posting follow up pictures perhaps a year later to see how it lasts?

Looks great, I have (had) a blue tub, had it painted and it’s held up pretty good, but I still think I would like to do the bath fitter thing, but have an idea that it’s pretty expensive, what is the price range?

Linda, As far as the cost goes, every bathroom will be different. Sorry that I can’t throw out a number, but the best advice would be to give them a call and have them come out to give you a quote. They will layout all the different options there would be for your space.

First of all, let me say that I love your blog and follow it regularly. You guys are amazing and do fabulous, fabulous stuff! I know that everybody wants to see positive comments in these forums. I really have to get my honest comments out here because we have a horrible master bathroom and will eventually have to take on a similar makeover and I know many people are in the same boat.

Our house is old (circa 1976) and the bathroom was 100% original when we moved in plus the previous owners were chain smokers who seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time smoking in this bathroom. It was horror movie awful. We’ve done quite a lot of cosmetic overhauling to get it where I wasn’t scared to go in there.

I have serious reservations about the bath re-fitter idea for these types of bathrooms. Firstly, and I realize this is a personal preference, I really dislike the faux tile look of these things. I’ve never seen one that doesn’t look like a cheap fix. Secondly, it reduces the size of your shower and tub which are usually small anyway in these old houses. Thirdly, and most importantly for this type of home improvement on a budget blog, this kind of remodel will permanently cover up any problems you would have with these really old bathrooms, for example water leaks and mold. This seems like a really bad idea to me. Better to take it down to the studs, make sure everything looks good back there, re-drywall and retile. I guess at that point, you could even still do an fiberglass insert.

Do you have any thoughts about this? Thank you for all the information you share on your blog! It really is one of the best blogs of this type that I have found!!

Tracy, thanks for following our blog. I think you have some very good concerns and comments. We do love the new bathroom tub and surround. It was very amazing to have it all done in one day and have our bathroom back the next day. As far as covering up problems, yes it would be best to fix them before you cover up. Very bad to just cover up with out checking for mold or leaks. We checked ours and made sure that it would be okay to have it covered up. If you ever had questions of mold or leaks definitely have it checked out by a mold professional first. They came in and we had all new plumbing installed for our project. As far as the smaller comment, yes it does make it smaller, but I haven’t noticed and size difference. It’s such a small amount. I hope that helps. Thanks again for reading our blog. Justin

Beautiful job but the fact that you won’t reveal how much YOUR bathroom remodel was lets me know that it’s probably VERY expensive and I wouldn’t be able to afford it anyways so ooohing and aaaahing over it is fruitless. 🙁

Thank you for sharing the price for yours, Irene! Of course we all realize every bathroom will be different, but even one experience can help us to have a starting point. I would hate to have someone come out for a consultation and then realize there is no way I could afford it. May I ask how your remodel compares to this one as far as complexity? Did you also have new plumbing done, or was your remodel simpler?

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